Lace measuring mechanism



May 26, 1959 Original Filed Dec. 19, 1952 3 Sheets-Shea?l 1 May 26, 1959 J. FossA 2,887,698

LACE MEASURING MECHANISNI 3 sheets-sheet 2 Original Filed Dec. 19. 1952 J; FOssA LACE MEASURING MECHANISM original Filed Dec. 19. 1952 May 26, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .7m/mr afk farm nited States Patent ass/,69s

LACE MEASURING MECHANISM Joseph Fossa, South Hamilton, Mass., assgnor to United l Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, NJ., a corporation of New Jersey Original application December 19, 1952, Serial No. 326,948.` Divided and this application May 26, 1958, Serial No. 737,646 f v s Claims. (cl. 12-5s.s)`

The present invention relates to improvements in a 2,887,698 Patented May l2e, 1959l ICC upper locating slide with the locating pins and 4iin slidably mounted on the workholder;

, eyeleting and lacing operations upon a shoe upper is ge i l erally indicated in the plan View, Fig. l, and inthe partly.;A

workholder for use in a machine for lacing shoe uppers' This application is a division of applicants copending application Ser. No. 326,948, led in the United States Patent Otlice December 19, 19'52, for Machine for Operating Upon Shoe Uppers.

In carrying out the invention a simple and improved mechanism is provided for supporting and for adjusting C the position of the thread measuring finger employed in connection with the operation of the lacing mechanism to control the size of the several laces inserted in the eyeleted upper. In the illustrated construction the thread measuring finger is mounted on an arm which is pivotally supported for angular adjustment in a vertically adjustable bracketl carried on the work support. Adjustments for height and for angle of the nger are made by means of two manually operable adjusting levers whichare' moved with relation to arcuate gauge scales carried on the vertically adjustable bracket. One of the `adjusting levers is connected to control the vertical position of the bracket, the other lever being connected to control the angular position of the thread finger-on its supporting arm. In the illustrated form of the invention the thread nger is supported in such a manner as to be readily lifted to permit the removal of the eyeleted and laced upper from the workholder. A thread finger' of different length ils readily substituted in the workholder for use in lacing shoe uppers of diierent types which may require the insertion of more lacings. l

The several' features of the invention will be readily understood by one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: r

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of an automatic machine for eyeleting and for lacing theeyeleted shoeI upper illustrating particularly the work supporting and transfer assembly of the machine including the turret, one of the four workholders mountedthereon with an upper clamped therein, a second workholder in its open position, and a third workholder partially broken away to show underlying parts;

Fig. 2 is a view on front elevation of the turret and workholder assembly partly sectioned on a section line passing through the turret axis, two of the workholders disposed respectively at the eyeleting andunloading stations being shown; i

Fig. 3 is an isometric view looking frombelow illus# trating portions of one of the workboldcrs, andthe shoel sectioned side View, Fig. 2, only so much of the machine however, being shown as believed necessary to illustratef the connection of the present invention therewith. fFia more detailed disclosure of the machine, reference may' be had to applicants `copending application above referred' to and to the Fossa Patent No. 2,461,889, dated February 15, 1949, for Machine and Method for Manufacturebf Shoes. In the present disclosure, the base of the Inachiniet is generally indicated at and includes a cylindrical casing 52 within which is'nrounted an indexing worksup;VV porting turret. The turret provides support for four workholders 132 which are mounted on guideways 131 extend ing radially outward from the turret at 90 angles from one another.

At the front side of the machine, there is provided a locating station which comprises a locating mechanism generally indicated at P for the assistance of the operatorv in locating and clamping successive uppers on the wokl holders. At the remaining stations proceeding in yai counterclockwise direction around the turret there fare' provided an eyeleting mechanism generally indicated VIf a lacing mechanism generally indicated at L, and a fourth# station between the lacing and loading station to which the workholding clamps are released. Each workholder 132 of the illustrated construction,

see Fig. 3, comprises a generally U-shaped member hav"-v ing outwardly flanged edges 135 forming guides which ride under the recessed edges of the rail guideway 1311; and two parallel sets of upwardly extending resiliently mounted pins 136 (see Fig. 2) which form the lower relatively stationary elements of a clamping device for engaging the two adjoining edge portions of the upper., Each of the stationary clamping elements is formed toward its outer end with a laterally extending tab 137 f which is particularly adapted to engage with and support` downwardly through the aperture formed by the channel 133 and separated rails of the guideway 131 and is freely movable therein with the workholder on the guideway Each workholder 132 as shown, for example in Fig. l,-

\ has mounted thereon a pair of movable work clamping jaws 14,6, a pair of vamp spreaders 147, 148 and a lace' measuring or slotting bar 149. The work clamping jaws 146 comprise a pair of lever arms which are supported intermediate their length on a pivot shaft 150 on the t workholder 132 (see Fig. 2) and are connected at their rear ends to identical toggle links 151 which are pivotally connected to toggle arms 152 rotatably supported on a laterally extending pivot pin 153 at the rear end of the workholder 132. The toggle arms 152 are connected to*` turn as a single unit by a strap 154 arranged .to be engaged;

3 by an actuating lug 15S secured to the upper end of an axially movable control shaft 156 which is preferably connected to be moved downwardly by a treadle control, not here specifically shown.

Downward movement of the control shaft 154 causes the ylug 152 to engage and depress the strap 154 to straighten the toggle links 151, 152 and thereby to effect a simultaneous movement of the clamping levers to clamping position. A small tension spring 157 connected between one of the clamping levers and work support tends normally to maintain the clamp in its open or disengaged position.

The work clamping jaws 146 are released prior to the final indexing movement which transfers the work support with the eyeleted and laced upper held thereon back to the loading station by means of an automatic release mechanism which is substantially similar to corresponding mechanism in the Fossa patent. The clamp release mechanism acts iduring the third indexing movement of the work support, i.e., during the indexing movement which serves to transfer the work support away from the lacing mechanism to a position at the left side of the machine, as indicated, for example, in Fig. 2. Clamp release plungers 162 are provided one for each work support journaled to slide in vertical drills in the turret 54 -beneath the lstraps 154 of the clamp toggle connections, so that upward movement of any one of the plungers will cause the head thereof to engage and move the cooperating strap 154 upward to break the toggle connection, and thereby to release the toggle clamp. Substantially at the completion of each indexing movement of the turret 54 the plunger 162 associated with the workholder which has been moved to the position at the left of the loading station, is moved upwardly into engagement with the strap 154 to break the clamp toggle 151, 152 by the action of a slide 164 (see Fig. 2) supported for vertical movement in la relatively stationary guideway formed in a sleeve member 166 keyed to the fixed sleeve bearing element 62. For a description of the connections for raising the slide 164 and the contacting plunger 162 therewith which form specifically no part of the present invention reference may be had to the copending application above referred to.

In accordance with the invention, a novel mechanism is provided for supporting and for adjusting the position of the measuring bar 149. The mechanism shown has the advantage that it is readily adjustable by the operator in accordance with the lacing requirements of the particular upper being operated upon, is compact, and is so arranged on the workholder to permit the shoe upper including the heel portion thereof to be placed in the desired location on the workholder with either the inside or outside surface of the eyelet aps facing upwardly as may be desired. As best shown in Figs. 2, 4, and 5, the lace measuring bar 149 is mounted on an arm 234 which is pivotally supported for angular adjustment on a horizontally extending bracket 235 mounted on a vertically adjustable post 236 which is axially shiftable in the socket 138 forming an integral part of the workholder 132. The bracket 235 carries a transversely disposed pivot pin 237 on which the arm 234 is mounted to turn. Two arcuate scales 238 and 240 are formed in a vertically disposed plate 241 mounted Vfrom the upper end of the post 236 for indicating respectively the position of angular adjustment of the arm 234 and the position of vertical adjustment of the lace measuring bar assembly including the post 236. For determining the angular position of the lace measuring bar 149, the arm 234 is extended rearwardly across a portion of the plate 241 opposite the scale 238 and is held in adjusted position in relation thereto by means of a small spring detent 242 which is spring pressed against a series of serrations 244 on the plate 241 (see Fig. 2). Vertical adjustment of the lace measuring bar 149 bodily is effected by means of a manually operated adjusting lever 246 which, as best shown` in Fig. 2, is supported to turn on a pivot pin 248 supported by the scale plate 241 and an auxiliary supporting plate 250 secured to the lace measuring bar carrying post 236. The adjusting lever 246 extends across the portion of the plate 241 opposite the scale 240 Iand is held in adjusted position with relation thereto by means of a spring detent 252 which frictionally engages with a series of serrations 254 formed on -the plate 241. A laterally extending arm of the vertical adjusting lever 246 is connected by means of a link 256 with a lug 258 on a vertical plate 260 secured to the post 236.

Further in accordance with the invention, the lace measuring bar 149 is mounted to be readily removable to permit a plurality of such lace measuring bars of different lengths to be interchangeably employed in the machine for the eyeletting and lacing of different types of shoe. It has been found, for example, that with the Blutcher type of shoe in which the shoe is assembled on a last 'with the sides of the lacing slit in substantially parallel relation, a long measuring bar is required which extends over the outer fin in order to measure the length of the lacing which is preferably placed in the eyelets formed at the throat of the lacing slit. With a Bal type of shoe, on the other hand, in which the upper is assembled on a last with the sides of the lacing slit close together at the base and spread out toward the upper end, a relatively short lace measuring bar is preferred since no regulation of the lacing inserted through the eyelets at the base of the lacing slit is required and the adjustment of the lace measuring bar is such as to cause the tip of a full-length lace measuring bar to interfere with the outer iin. For ready removal and replacement of the lace measuring bar 149, the bar is provided intermediate its length with a transverse bearing pin 262 which is arranged to drop into a recess or transverse slot 264 formed at the outer end of arm 234. The upper end of the lace measuring bar is holed to receive a pivot pin 266 carried on a spring plate 268, secured to the arm 234 and arranged for the `free position of the spring to pass through the hole in the measuring bar and through an aligned hole in the arm 234. The arrangement above described and illustrated is such as to cause the lace measuring bar to rest normally in its adjusted position as determined by the angular adjustment of the arm 234. However, the lace measuring bar is free to move upwardly about the pivot pin 266 in the event that the arm is engaged while portions of the work support are supported thereon during the feeding movements of the work support outwardly at either of the eyeleting or lacing stations of the machine. With the construction shown, all of the pivoted connections are made very loosely so that the lace measuring bar will be free to drop downwardly again to its normal position so that a minimum risk exists that the bar will remain in its raised position and be brought into interfering engagement with outlying portions of the lacing mechanism during the indexing movement of the work support away from the eyeleting Istation and to and from the lacing station of the machine.

The invention having been described what is claimed is:

1. A workholder for use in a machine for lacing shoe uppers which comprises a workholding member having clamping devices for clamping the lacing margins of an eyeleted shoe upper in an opened-out edge-facing relation for the placing ofy groups of enchained lacings through the eyelets of successive pairs, a lace measuring bar around which said groups of interchained lacings are placed, a lacing bar support post mounted upright on the workholding member for adjustment axially to shift the lacing bar bodily toward and away from the clamped upper, a support lever on which the lacing bar is carriedy pivoted from the post for adjustment angularly to vary the incline of the lacing bar to the clamped upper along the length of the lacing margins, and means under the control of thev operator for adjusting said post and the angular relationxofthe support lever to the post.

2. A workholder for use in a machine for lacing shoe uppers which comprises a workholding member having clamping devices for clamping the lacing margins of an eyeleted shoe upper in an opened-out edge-facing relation for the placing of groups of interchained lacings through the eyelets of successive pairs, a lace measuring bar around which said groups of interchained lacings are placed, a lacing bar support post mounted on the workholding member for adjustment axially to shift the lacing bar bodily toward and away from the clamped upper, a support lever on which the lacing bar is carried pivoted from the post for adjustment angularly to vary the incline of the lacing bar to the clamped upper along the length of the lacing margins, a manual controller movably supported on the post, and connections between the post and support on the workholding member controlled by said controller for adjusting the vertical position of the post, a second manual controller movably supported from the post connected with said support lever for adjusting the angular relation of the support lever and lacing bar thereon with relation to the post.

3. In a machine for lacing shoe uppers, the combination of a workholder on which the upper is supported with the lacing margins in an opened-out edge-facing relation, and a lace measuring device on the workholder comprising a lacing finger support member, devices for supporting said member on the lworkholder for vertical and for angular adjustment relative to the workholder, a thread lacing nger, a pivotal connection between the member and one end of the finger, on which the ingcr is movable between a depressed lace measuring position and a raised inoperative position, and a rest on the member against which the finger is engaged for the depressed lace measuring position of the finger.

4. In a machine for lacing shoe uppers, the combination of a workholder on which the upper is supported with the lacing margins in an opened-out edge-facing relation, and a lace measuring device on the workholder comprising a vertically adjustable post carried on the workholder, a lacing finger support member pivotally mounted from the post, manual controllers for adjusting the vertical position of the post and the angular position of said member thereon, a lacing linger, a pivot on to which the measuring finger is connected at one end to turn freely between a depressed lace measuring position and a raised inoperative position, and a rest surface on said member against which the finger is supported in a depressed lace measuring position.

5. In a machine for lacing upon shoe uppers, the combination of a workholder comprising a pair of clamping elements between which the upper is supported with the heel portion of the upper encircling one of said elements and with the lacing margins of the upper in an openedout edge-facing relation, and a lace measuring device on the workholder comprising a lacing finger support member, a cord lacing finger, said support and nger being formed to provide a readily disconnectable pivotal connection between the member and said linger about which the linger is movable between a depressed lace measuring position and a raised inoperative position, and cooperating abutments on the support and finger to limit the downward movement of the finger in said lace measuring position.

No references cited. 

